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Movie review: A pleasure looking for those "Silver Linings"

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper star in "Silver Linings," a meaningful film that keeps the laughter, giddy anxiousness and warm butterflies sustained through two full hours of love story. (Weinstein Co.)

It seemed to have all the trendy, carefully chosen ingredients for a heart-on-its-sleeve rom-com hit — a strong, attractive cast, sharp dialogue, keen music pairings, laugh-out-loud back-and-forths, weighty backstory and a beloved director.

Surely this is too good to be true? Actually, no.

All the silvery buzz here is deserved, folks. This meaningful film keeps the laughs, giddy anxiousness and warm butterflies from the trailer and sustains it all through two full hours of a love story. Cheers to director David O. Russell, who also wrote the screenplay based on Matthew Quick's novel. This movie is funny — and sad. But it's more up than down, which is saying something given the subject matter.

After a stint in a mental hospital, former teacher Pat (Bradley Cooper) comes home to reintegrate with his family, his friends, his marriage. Some people have moved on — including his wife, whose affair with another teacher brought on Pat's mental snap. But some are still waiting for Pat, including mom (Jacki Weaver), dad (Robert De Niro) and pal Ronnie (John Ortiz).

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Pat might be better, but he's not well. Upon arriving home, he starts devouring books on his ex-wife's syllabus. He finishes Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" in his bedroom one night at 4 a.m., asks "What the f---?" chucks the book through a glass window and marches to his sleeping parents' room to rant on the unfairness of it all. When they coddle his anger and ask for an apology, Pat can't fully commit.

"I can't apologize," he says. "You know what I will do? Apologize on behalf of Ernest Hemingway, because that's who's to blame here."

It's a smart scene that shows the humor and compassion that run through the entire film. When Ronnie introduces Pat to his troubled sister-in-law Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), there's a connection — but Pat does his best to quash the chemistry. He's nice to her as he tells her he's not hitting on her. He tells her his sad story, mentioning the word "wife" more than once. And he keeps reminding Tiffany of her own sadness, that her ex-husband is dead and she's not fully over it.

Pat's titular search for a break from his life's weight — "If you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining," he says often — doesn't make this film. But his heart and personality do.

Pat is a likable character, and Cooper handles his idiosyncracies with charm and ease. But this is almost Lawrence's film, as her Tiffany tames Pat's mania while also keeping tabs on her own demons. It helps that they're surrounded by truly gifted actors, including De Niro as a father with (OCD) issues of his own and Pat's buddies Ronnie (Ortiz) and Danny (Chris Tucker), who give some of the best laughs of the movie.

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